This invention relates to flow control in a compressor and more particularly to arrangements which obviate the need for more conventional check valves.
The has been a proposal to use a trilobal impeller or rotor within a quadrilateral housing to move a fluid, such as a refrigerant fluid, from a region of low pressure to a region of higher pressure, in a manner consistent with the operation or prior art compressors. In such devices, conventional check valves, formed with spring loaded balls seated on seats, have been used to control flow through the compressor. Such check valves, while long used in such applications and well known, have known mechanical failures, including sticking or becoming unseated, which impair or prevent compressor operation.